Elephant Abuse Reward Offered by PETA

PETA sometimes does things that some people find offensive to draw attention to their animal-related causes, but this new program could be quite effective, without riling anyone up too much.†They just published a press release detailing their offer of $500 to employees of Quicken Loans Arena (located in Cleveland) who photograph an employee of Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus physically abusing any of their elephants. At issue in particular, is the use of bullhooks or anything other steel/metal prods to strike an elephant. Hitting elephants with such implements often occurs out of view of the public, so photographing the act would help make PETA’s work of exposing elephant abuse less difficult.

“Elephants bear the scars of bullhook abuse and vividly remember the pain of them, but they need the help of people behind the scenes to look out for them.” said PETA Director Delcianna Winders. (Source: PETA.org)

Today it is fairly common for people to own cell phones with digital cameras capable of taking photos of a reasonable quality and the capacity to take multiple images. Some even shoot video and can send media via e-mail. These features on mobile devices are contributing to the citizen journalism trend, which is an aspect of what has been called the democratization of the media. Would you use your cell phone to photograph or record video if you saw someone abusing an elephant or other animal?